Seth Shostak – What lesson does Tambora provide for us today? I mean we are facing not just the eruption of a volcano but a slow motion catastrophe of “climate change”.

Question – The statement “we are facing … a slow motion catastrophe of “climate change”.” is thrown up as a fact something like E=Mc^2 or evolution, but where is the evidence of a “catastrophe”? Does it show up in world food production? Anything at all?

Gillen D’Arcy Wood – What it shows us is our vulnerability to rapid changes. In the case of Tambora it was global cooling now it is global warming but the impact on agriculture is essentially the same.

What??!! Has the fellow ever grown a plant in his life? World agricultural production has gone up by 250% since 1960 – the years of global warming. Does that sound like a “catastrophe” to you Seth?

Global cooling was a catastrophe so the lesson we learn from this is that warming is a catastrophe too? Wow this is science in spades.